Conventionally, there has been an apparatus provided with a touch panel, a microcomputer which processes information input from the touch panel, a storage device connected to the microcomputer, and an infrared LED as an output device driven to control a device to be controlled, such as an air-conditioning apparatus, as a remote control device (abbreviated as a remote control) (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).
When remote control commands are displayed on a liquid crystal screen of the touch panel and a user touches a desired control command, the microcomputer detects a touched position as an electric signal. The control command is recognized from this touched position and is output to the infrared LED, thereby the control target device is remotely controlled. The remote control device disclosed in Patent Literature 1 has only a touch panel that allows the user to input a command related to remote control, thus requires a smaller area for installation than that for a remote control device used before Patent Literature 1, which has more input buttons, and has higher durability compared to the remote control device used previously, therefore, convenient or user-friendly because the user does not have to look for an input button for control among a number of input buttons.
A remote control device with a touch panel typically uses a dry cell as a power source for powering the liquid crystal display and the microcomputer. Further, the dry cell also supplies power for energization for detecting the touched position on the touch panel.